Nautiscarader's Wendip Week prompt 1: Naked
by nautiscarader
Summary: Dipper receives a troublesome message. Dipper is confused. First instalment in the Wendip Week.
Dipper did not know what to do. The sun has been already filling the twins' room in the attic of the mystery Shack only for an hour or so, but that wasn't the reason Dipper couldn't go back to sleep. He has been awoken by the sound of his cellphone, and upon opening it, he discovered a message from his girlfriend sent last night. A message with an enclosed photo.

The text of the message was barely readable, as it would seem that Wendy turned on the auto-correction half-way through typing it, probably when "Dipper" became "Dapper", or maybe after the engine suggested his name was actually "Ladle". The words were not important, though. Or maybe they were, but the lost meaning only deepened the mystery of the picture.

It made Dipper instantly open his drowsy and tired eyes. Like most photos taken from hand it was blurry, but the central figure was clearly visible, even in a dim and slightly murky lighting. Wendy was in some dark green bedroom - clearly not hers - posing for someone, kneeling on a bed. Her attire, however, was somewhat incomplete. She was wearing her hat and jeans, but everything in between was missing and showed her chest the way Dipper hasn't seen yet - at least not outside of his dreams.

To say the least, it left Dipper perplexed. Even though they were dating for more than three years now, they haven't really ventured that far in their relationship. A sex joke here, a double entendre there; a slip of a tongue, or a slip of a hand into slightly more risqué area - that was it. He had no other girlfriend before, and he suspected - even more so when his body started to change for good - that the tension between them will only continue to rise, up to an inevitable boiling point. Could that be it?

Even though his heart would gladly tell his body to rush forward, forget about everything and dive between her firm and ample breasts, his mind - though heavily suppressed right now, as it had to redirect the blood to different areas of Dipper's body - would advice to wait and explain the situation. And that was what Dipper has settled on.

Aside from its erotic aspect, the photo showed Wendy in a rather unusual, completely ecstatic state. And the unfamiliar house was somewhat alarming - Dipper could not recognise any part of it. For a moment a dark thought shadowed his mind - what if she wanted to leave him for someone else? What if it was some cocky "goodbye, I found a better one" message? Long before they started dating Dipper's biggest fear was that he would not be good enough material for a boyfriend. Especially for such a splendid girl as Wendy. So when they finally ended up together, that fear instead of going away has doubled in magnitude.

Both Mabel, Wendy, Soos and pretty much everyone he knew would often tell him that he was over-thinking every aspect of his life. And they were usually right. Could they be wrong now? But if so, why send the picture at all? It didn't fit her personality at all. They had differences, as all couples do, but she preferred to say it straight away. Or at least she usually did. For every argument Dipper could think of, his mind would immediately find a counterpoint that made him more and more worried.

That is how Dipper spent last few hours, debating with himself on what to do, while staring into the slanted ceiling over his bed. The wooden beams still had a few pages of his hand-written decryption tables pinned, back from the times he tried decipher the messages by the mysterious journals' author. Over the time he would usually pin another cryptic message he was currently trying to crack over it; he did that at the start of this summer as well, and truth to be told, he made a mental note to get back on it as soon as the mystery of Wendy's photo will be solved. But the central piece of the disorganised collage over his head was a portrait photo of a red-headed young woman, looking into the lenses of her boyfriend's camera with a dashing smile.

Dipper nearly hit his head into the said photo when the phone rang in his hand, and he jumped on his bed.

\- Wendy? Wendy, are you alright? - he shouted into the speaker  
\- Dipper... - her quiet and weary voice sounded in his ear - Can you... come to us, like, right now?

Her response puzzled Dipper again. First his instinct was that he hesitated to give her a call too long; now her weakened voice implicated that his wavering might have harmed her.

\- "To us"? Wh-what do you mean?  
\- Tambry. And one more thing... - she paused - Those journals of yours... there weren't any cures for headaches in them, was it?

Dipper let out a loud breath he wasn't aware he was holding. One one hand, Dipper was content and appeased that Wendy was safe and sound, maybe aside dehydration. He could also place a fair bet on the circumstances that lead to the creation of the troublesome photo. That, on the other hand still remained an issue, though.

Of course he knew a cure for hangover. Ford was quite happy to learn anything from any creature he met, and as it turned out the gnomes of Gravity Falls were quite proficient at curing many diseases. Dipper shared last few words over the phone and suited himself up for a trip. One quick visit to gnomes' underground speak-easy and one dishonest financial transaction later ("Two bottles for one of mistress Mabel's sweater? We're being too prodigal!"), Dipper was on his way to Tambry's house. It explained why he couldn't recognise the walls - he has never visited Wendy's friend before.

Following her instructions, the double door to the suburban house were already open, and the low groans of two wasted teenagers lead him to Tambry's bedroom. Dipper opened the door putting a hand over his eyes and peeking through the fingers, in order not to risk a bigger mishap, but fortunately both girls were fully clothed - although neither of them was wearing the clothes completely right.

\- Thank god, Dipper that you are here. - Wendy whispered, while performing a movement that otherwise could be mistaken for "getting up". She grasped the edges of his shirt and placed a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Dipper aimed for her mouth, but the smell quickly backed him off. Dipper's concern returned rapidly, since alcohol has never been a frequent choice of her drinks, and even if, he has never seen the lumberjack girl even as much as tipsy.  
\- Guys, what were you drinking?

Wendy kept looking in Dipper's eyes expecting an answer, before shifting her eyebrows and turning to the person that could actually know it.

\- Tambry, what was it?  
\- Strong. - she mumbled

Upon further inspection, it turned out that the liquor girls decided to indulge themselves with was made by the same people who made the cure - while looking around the house, Dipper found two bottles of Gnome's Gin that rolled under the bed. It shouldn't have surprised him at all: alcohol made by gnomes was one of the few substances know to men that could simultaneously cure and induce inebriation.

Half an hour and several glasses of water later, Dipper sat on a puffy chair he deemed "clean" and started giving his two older friends much needed discussion.

\- I told you: don't buy things from them, it's not meant for humans!  
\- We won't. Buddy, you are a lifesaver. We owe you. - Tambry muttered from the sofa  
\- Wendy, what happened yesterday? Why were you drinking at all?  
\- Tambry's eighteen next week, and we wanted to... you know. - she said pressing a bag of ice to her forehead - Sample what she bought. To make sure it's gonna be okay.  
\- Well, now we know we're gonna be watering it down.  
\- No, don't do that. - Dipper panicked - Gnome's alcohol gets stronger the more you dilute it. And besides, everything's gone.

Tambry started cleaning the entire room from the mess, but not before taking a snapshot of the picturesque disaster with two small bottles tumbling in the middle of the floor. Which reminded Dipper of the bigger picture.

\- Uhm, Tambry, could you please excuse us for a moment?

Hearing a low grunt that could be taken as an answer, he hold Wendy's hand and slowly walked her to Tambry's kitchen. Dipper made sure to close the door, and handed Wendy her phone.

\- Wen, do you remember what did you do last night? Specifically, any photos you might have taken while, uh, being a bit drunk?  
\- No... - she answered, opening her phone's case and tracing a pine tree symbol on the lock screen.

She seemed to have no or at least very few memories of the past night. Dipper read that the gnome's gin has tendencies to scramble - temporarily - the cerebral cortex. He remained silent and tried to look away while Wendy browsed her phone, but as soon as a very short "What the..." escaped her lips, he knew she has found it.

\- Wait, I think I remember what happened. - she burst - I think Tambry did one as well. We were talking about, you know, you, and she asked if, we... you know.

Even darker shade of crimson gravitated to their cheeks, as Wendy tried to find some statement that wouldn't set them aflame. With her mind still slightly foggy, she gushed the only questsions she could think of.

\- Well, we got that out of the list. You liked it?

As the distance between them got shorter, Dipper had to take a step or two back and press his against the wall behind him. He still had the image of hers burning bright in his memories, and her flirtatious grin made Dipper wonder how much Tambry would mind if she had to febreeze her kitchen counter.

\- Sure I did. You are even more beautiful than I thought.  
\- Aww, how romantic of you. Lemme guess, a new background?  
\- Actually... I deleted it.

Wendy raised her brow and her face frowned at the same moment he heard her sweating boyfriend mutter his response.

\- You did...? Why?

Suddenly Dipper found himself in a pressing situation. He thought that keeping the photo could be considered unseemly, but as it turned out the opposite might have been even worse of a choice.

\- No, I mean, it's just... I thought that if I keep it, you will get angry, and I don't want to risk losing you, just because you were drunk, and I wanted to, you know, experience it...

"First hand" sounded wrong.

\- ... with you. Because you are beautiful. And you mean so much to me, and that's not how I wanted to see you for the first time - he blurted, expecting Wendy to fume in anger.

Instead, she threw her arms around Dipper's neck and placed a long, wet and completely sterile kiss on his lips.

\- Dipper, you big, stupid dork, why are you thinking so much about it? And why would I be angry about it? - she giggled when their lips parted - It's a photo, look.

She opened her phone again, manoeuvred to her naked picture and pressed a big red button on the bottom of the screen.

\- See? Gone.

That wasn't technically true, but Dipper didn't want to give her a computer science lecture.

\- Tell you what, sweetie. If you are such a huge gentledork, I know a better way of getting rid of a memory you want to keep at a distance.

He heard a faint glass clink next to his ear when Wendy's body pressed him almost making sit on the counter. Dipper turned his head around only to find a small bottle crate and realise that Tambry might have stocked up.

\- Okay. - he said, catching his breath - But we will do that under precise scientific supervision.

Dipper really had very pleasant memories from the party that occurred next week. Per Tambry and Wendy's request, he has been made a part-time barman for the evening, responsibly sampling the drinks poured from test tubes, after much needed filtration process. And being the fully-fledged overthinker, he kept an eye on both her girlfriend and all of their friends.

When few weeks later summer holidays were coming to end, and Dipper with Mabel were readying to travel back to Piedmont, he barely remembered Wendy's photographical faux-pas. Instead, the twins were busy chatting and exchanging the usual gifts with the crowd escorting them to the bus stop.

\- Got it! - Dipper shouted taking Wendy's hat and proudly switching it with his own. Ever since he grew to be taller than her ("Half an inch! It counts"), Dipper took much proud from winning their yearly ritual.

Then came the letters. What started as a simple goodbye gift made by twins' friends evolved into a hobby that was regarded by all of their hometown friends as old-fashioned, given how slow and time-consuming it was. And truth to be told, they thought that as well, but reading the reminiscences of their adventures from other perspective always felt like re-living two extra months in one more day.  
Sitting comfortable in their places, the twins begun unsealing their letters. Mabel's opened with a small burst, littering her seat with confetti.

\- I'm not gonna clean this. - Dipper said, taking one short look at his overjoyed sister and her equally happy pet.

He walked to the opposite row and examined his present. The letter had another brown envelope attached to it. Dipper ripped the top and pulled the piece of paper out, only to tuck it in a split of a second later. He looked around the bus, but as usual he, Mabel and Waddles were the only passengers present. With shaking hand, he unfolded the edges of the envelope and looked inside again, slowly pulling the thick, glossy photography from it.

All of his memories suddenly came back.


End file.
